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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26029087">20 Minutes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eff_Dragonkiller/pseuds/Eff_Dragonkiller'>Eff_Dragonkiller</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>2020 Trope Bingo [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Losers (2010)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bittersweet, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Google Translate Spanish, M/M, Mild Language, Pre-Slash</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:20:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,233</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26029087</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eff_Dragonkiller/pseuds/Eff_Dragonkiller</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a whole list of reasons Cougar didn't hang around on leave when Clay picked up a new woman. It only took twenty minutes to pack a bag and buy a ticket on the first flight to New Hampshire.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez/Jake Jensen, Jake Jensen &amp; Jake Jensen's Sister</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>2020 Trope Bingo [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1817557</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>76</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Just Write! Trope Bingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>20 Minutes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Just Write Trope Bingo fill for Courtship.</p><p>ps. You can all blame SaydriaWolfe for dragging me into the Losers Fandom.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cougar shifted the odd bouquet in his hands and dropped his duffel so he could tap the doorbell. He was going to owe Jake so many favors for showing up unannounced at his sister's house during the man's leave. This was going against almost all the unwritten rules about visiting friends while off base.</p><p>Of course, it wasn't like Jake was going to be fucking his sister so half those rules didn't apply. But it was still really rude.</p><p>He pressed the doorbell again.</p><p>"You expecting anyone, Jess?" </p><p>Jess Jensen snorted, "the only people who try to visit me are the postman and old Mrs. McKinna. That woman is ninety years old and still convinced being a single mother is a sign of a sinful life."</p><p>"I mean by her standards," Jake said as he opened the door, "it probably is."</p><p>"Buenas tardes, Jake." Cougar offered the combination chocolate and cable tie bouquet to the silly man. </p><p>"Cougar," His best friend's grin was brighter than the sun, and Carlos couldn't help but smile back as he ushered the sniper in, "What are you doing here?"</p><p>"Jake?" </p><p>"It was Cougar, Jess!" </p><p>The woman swore and his smile dimmed. "I don't have any clean sheets! Alice used the spare set in an art project."</p><p>Jake laughed, "he can have my bed tonight and we can hit Walmart tomorrow. It'll be fine."</p><p>"Oh, but the couch-"</p><p>"I promise. It's a 100 times better than half the shit the Army makes us sleep on."</p><p>"Si," Cougar nodded and smiled when Jess looked over at him with a wrinkle in her brow. "There was ah- that time with the stick that was a snake."</p><p>Jake snorted dragging Cougar in tight with an arm and his shoulder and tugging him further into the house. "Or that time with the cats in Clay's sleeping bag?"</p><p>Cougar smirked, Clay didn't do well with females of any animal kingdom. </p><p>Standing in the kitchen her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed at them, was Alice. And she was holding the swear jar. This time the sign at the front said "My adults have failed to adult, again". </p><p>"Hi, Tio Cougar," Alice had definitely inherited the Jensen smile, just as big and bright as her Uncle's. "You owe me at least five dollars for that mess, Mom."</p><p>Jess Jensen scowled playfully at her daughter, "Will you take payment in kind?"</p><p>"Nope," the young girl shook her head, "Only cash settlements."</p><p>Cougar tucked a ten-dollar bill in the jar, "My bad."</p><p>"Half that is an advance payment!" Jake shouted as his niece ran away with the swear jar. "Don't think it's free!"</p><p>"Cougar, you didn't have to do that," Jess said, hands on her hips exactly the same way her daughter had. "I was the one who broke the rule."</p><p>"Ah, but you are my host, and it was my fault for showing up unannounced." He offered Jess a warm smile and shrugged, "Ten bucks to the swear jar is nothing for good company."</p><p>Jake whistled in wide-eyed admiration, though Carlos could see the laughter in his eyes. "Damn, Cougar. That was smooth."</p><p>"Is a gift," Cougar said and he knew his mouth was quirking up into something a little less gentle and a little more dangerous. But Jess just laughed and started dismantling the bouquet for the chocolate.</p><p>"What brought you up here, Cougs?" Jake asked, sneaking a chocolate when his sister wasn't looking and twisting the cable ties into something less haphazard and more like industrial art.</p><p>"Clay found a new woman," Cougar said after a moment, "his idea of courtship leaves much to be desired."</p><p>Which was the truth. It just wasn't the whole truth. He didn't share that Cougar missed the sound of his friend's chatter, that he reached for his gun when he didn't hear Jake's breathing in the bed across the room. Without Jake the house was too empty, Roque was too violent, and Clay was too stupid. The rifle by his bed started to look too appealing.</p><p>After realizing that it hadn't taken Cougar more than twenty minutes to shove all his gear in a bag and buy a ticket on the first flight into New Hampshire.</p><p>"You mean Clay's romances often goes boom," Jake snickered. "Man, I don't blame you for getting out there. I still have the scar from that one chick with the chainsaw. Shit, we should get hazard pay just for Clay's taste in women."</p><p>"And like your taste is so much better?" Jess shook her head, "You'd go after anything willing, Jacob Jensen!"</p><p>Jake shrugged and popped another chocolate in his mouth, "Anything willing with a pulse. I draw the line at zombies."</p><p>"No, Jake is right," Cougar shook his head. "Clay is a good officer but horrible in a relationship."</p><p>"Horrible taste in women too."</p><p>"Why?" Jess asked, "Are they like brats or something?"</p><p>"More like crazy," Cougar snorted.</p><p>"Clay claims he likes them 'volatile'," Jake said, complete with chocolate stained finger quotes. "We think he just doesn't want to admit that he doesn't know what to do without someone trying to kill him."</p><p>"No!" Jess giggled.</p><p>Cougar nodded, "Car bomb, chainsaws, poison-"</p><p>"Knives, guns, gasoline and a match," Jake continued, "it's honestly a good thing Roque doesn't have anywhere to go during leave. The team can split and we know Roque will make sure Clay only ends up moderately singed and bloody."</p><p>"Instead of toasted."</p><p>Jess just shook her head and laughed, but to Cougar it felt like there was something off to the sound. "Sometimes I don't even know what to do with you two."</p><p>He frowned, "You think we are lying?"</p><p>"No," Jess said, walking around the kitchen island to kiss first her brother's head and then Cougar's. "It just hits harder some times than others, that your world is so different than mine. I need to go check on Wonderland."</p><p>Jake sighed as she left the kitchen and his smile faded a little, softened to the expression Cougar was only used to seeing on his friend's face in the quiet during the middle of the night after the nightmares had struck but before the laptop turned on again. </p><p>"I don't share a lot about the Losers," Jake admitted quietly. "I don't share a lot about me anymore either."</p><p>"Jake?" Cougar swayed into his friend's space, pressing up against him the way they never really talked about. </p><p>"She used to get vicious when she got scared. Now she gets quiet." He didn't look at Cougar as he spoke but leaned back against his friend, "I'm glad Alice doesn't have to learn how to duck like we did, but sometimes I wish I could just be honest with her."</p><p>Cougar tugged his friend closer and hugged him tightly. "You can talk to me, mi amigo. You can always talk to me."</p><p>"Even if I left the Army?" </p><p>He nudged his friend's chin up. The look in Jake's eyes was cautious and worried. This time he wasn't joking. "Don't be stupid. You leave and I'll follow. Someone needs to make sure you don't live off pixie sticks and red bull."</p><p>Jake's laugh was a little watery and his smile wavered a bit; Cougar had no idea what he could do outside of staring through a sniper scope, but for Jake, he was more than willing to figure it out.</p>
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